At the Vice-Chancellor’s Mid-Year Town Hall on 25 June, Professor S Bruce Dowton welcomed questions from staff. He received an overwhelming response and appreciates colleagues’ engagement and interest.

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Research

1. There is still a significant shortage in MQ scholarships for future HDR students. If this continues it will impact on research productivity and performance of the university. When will this be turned around?

The University’s budget commitment for HDR scholarships remains at its highest point in Macquarie’s history.  There was a reduction in the number of new scholarships awarded in 2018 due to increased admissions to HDR programs in previous years. This meant that a larger proportion of scholarship funds had to be allocated to continuing rather than new candidates.

The fundamental reality is that Macquarie provides more of its own funds to HDR scholarships than any other comparable Australian institution. Other universities rely on Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship funds allocated by the Government as a result of competitive grants won by academic staff.  Macquarie commits all of the Research Training Program  funding it receives towards the support of HDR candidates and then invests an equivalent amount of its own funds to greatly increase the number of scholarships it can offer to high quality candidates.  No other university does this. I have commented before that this is not a sustainable position and we must seek to rely more on external funding of HDR students.  In addition to seeking internally funded HDR scholarships to support their students, we encourage researchers to seek out contributions to HDR scholarships by including a request for scholarship funding in research grant applications or attracting co-funding from research end-users such as industry or government.  This is the norm in research-intensive universities.

2. Post- graduate students at Macquarie live at about the poverty line with little ability to work outside of study. What is the University doing to promote the cause of Post-graduate students to govt to increase scholarship wages?

Australian universities, including Macquarie, petitioned the Government for a number of years to increase the rate of HDR scholarships. The Government responded when it replaced the Research Training Scheme (RTS) with the Research Training Program (RTP) in 2017. Universities are now able to award scholarships at a rate $15,000 higher than the base rate. However, there was no commensurate increase in funding. This means that universities which increase the rate of payment will in fact have fewer scholarships to offer. There has been some movement to offer higher rates of payment across the sector, but not a great deal. We will be reviewing this approach in the medium term. However, it is worth remembering that if Macquarie increases the amount of scholarship payment, it is likely there will be fewer scholarships. We do encourage Faculties and Departments to consider providing scholarship top-ups to help attract and support high quality candidates.

3. How university is planning to support PhD student during a. Semester break when there are little or none casual teaching roles available. b. When a student submitted his thesis and needs to wait for an outcome without scholarship?

The University provides many candidates with a living stipend to support them throughout their PhDs.  Living stipends expire at the time a thesis is submitted, which usually comes at roughly the same time that the maximum period of the scholarship ends.  Macquarie is NSW’s largest participant in the Australian Postgraduate Research (APR) internship program that provides opportunities for completing candidates to receive an income at the same rate as HDR scholarships after they’ve submitted their theses. In this scheme, internships are ideally taken up between the time of submission and completion.  We are actively involved in the APR Internship program. More information can be found at:  https://www.mq.edu.au/connect/partnerships/why-connect-with-macquarie/engage-with-our-higher-degree-research-candidates

Unfortunately, Macquarie cannot make a commitment to offer HDR candidates casual teaching opportunities. Candidates are made aware of this as it is outlined in the letter of offer they receive before enrolment.

4. Macquarie has, in the past, been very generous with the total number of PhD Scholarships offered but only offering base level scholarships. In contrast the Scientia program at UNSW gives students access to up to $40,000 p.a. scholarships. What schemes could Macquarie implement to help our students live financially secure lives and help us compete with our geographical rivals?

Other universities are able to afford to do this as they are not relying to the extent that Macquarie is on internal funds for HDR scholarships.  Their researchers are able to garner external funding to support scholarships and this is what we must encourage more at Macquarie. Also refer Q2.

5. How can we better integrate our thought leaders from our excellent recent centres into the decision-making process of University?

The Directors of University Research Centres are an important cohort for the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) in terms of University leadership.  The DVC Research Portfolio engages the Directors of Research Centres in a variety of ways.  At least twice yearly, fora are held with Directors of Research Centres (who are often encouraged to invite a Centre Deputy Director or an Early Career Researcher to accompany them) to share the vision for the University’s Research Centres and to hear about what is working well and what could be improved.

University Centre Directors are key stakeholders in University Research Strategy and they are invited to participate in events such as the original Festival of Ideas that was held to inform the development of the University’s Strategic Research Framework, and the more recent Hearing Festival of Ideas that informed the development of the Macquarie Hearing Strategy.  The DVC Research sought their participation in the refresh of the University’s Research Framework and many Directors took part in the workshop held earlier this year to kick-off the revision of the Framework’s Supporting Strategies.

I would welcome any specific suggestions for how the University in general can better integrate our thought leaders into the decision-making processes of the University.

6. What about Climate Change as a grand challenge?

As one of the most significant challenges facing the world today, Climate Change research has a prominent place in the University’s Future-shaping Research Priorities, Themes and Streams.  Under the Priority ‘Secure Planet’ the Theme “Living in a changing environment” covers Research Streams such as “Climate Change – risk, impact, adaptation and mitigation”, “Environmental management and environmental health”, “Science communication” and “Coupled human-nature systems”. Under the Theme “Science and engineering technologies for the 21^st century”, that supports the Priority “Innovative Technologies”, is the Stream “Securing and managing water and food quality in a changing environment”.  Under the Priority “Prosperous Economies” is the Research Theme “Organisation sustainability, productivity and competitiveness” which references the Stream “Sustainable use of resources and technologies”.  The “Resilient Societies” Priority looks at, amongst other things, “environmental change from ancient to contemporary societies”.

These Research Streams and Themes were identified at the grass-roots researcher level as areas where Macquarie has established or emerging strengths and then shaped by the Faculties to represent research priorities that can be addressed by a range of disciplines.

Impactful, high quality Climate Change research is already being undertaken across the University but would indeed be a worthy topic for future Grand Challenges.

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Rankings and engagement

1. Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) are ranked highly yet are potentially facing job cuts… so is ranking really important?

Rankings are vital to all universities, as they provide an external perspective to performance and reputation. There are several different ranking systems and each measure slightly different factors, and each has strengths and weaknesses. There is a balance to be achieved in considering the worth of the various rankings systems.  We must also consider the value of each rankings system at an aggregate institutional level as opposed to discipline levels.  Rankings in individual disciplines can be significantly influenced by individual members of those disciplines.  It is common in all universities, and especially non-Go8 universities, that a small number of people in each discipline contribute a significant proportion of the renown accrued under the different rankings schemes.  It is true that EPS has been ranked highly at an individual discipline level as have a number of other disciplines across the University and those achievements are to be applauded.  It is also true that we need to consider the rankings of fields where the University either has large student numbers (several of the Business School fields) or is growing student enrolments (Computer Science, Engineering etc.).  Rankings are clearly taken into account when considering any change proposal but they are by no means the only factor.  As noted in the Town Hall, there are several pathways and relevance points for institutional and discipline renown.  With careful consideration, each are valid and none are mutually exclusive.

Rankings are highly influential in several spheres that are meaningful to us. For example, they provide a simple measure of “prestige” – “top 100”. They are also used by students (international and domestic) as well as recruitment agents, to choose which universities they should apply to. Thus, they are important for revenue. Finally, many major funding agencies use rankings to decide on scholarship programs for example – “we will only fund the top 200”.

2. Is the VC prepared to discuss the consequent work in supporting (or, rather, not supporting) international students who are being recruited and converted in increasing proportions?

I am not entirely sure what is meant by this question.  The proportion of international students at Macquarie University is relatively modest (~26%) compared to many of our peers (where many universities have 35% or more of their students from off shore). We focus on having a balanced cohort, from many different countries around the world. Many of our students come from China, South East Asia, and South Asia, in a similar proportion. Academic and pastoral support for all our students is provided through the Faculties, Macquarie University International College/English Language Centre, and the various programs run through the Registrar’s office.

Student survey results and feedback identify a number of areas for further attention and efforts are being coordinated across the Executive Director Student Engagement and Registrar (EDSER) portfolio with particular emphasis on:

• enhancing the orientation experience and better aligning pre-arrival and transition communications;
• extending buddies and mentors to support the transition and engagement of international students;
• translating key support resources into native languages;
• identifying staff who are multi-lingual and where necessary, recruiting staff with these skills;
• providing additional support for student groups that bring domestic and international students together;
• offering on-demand legal advice to international students via My LegalMate in partnership with StudyNSW and Redfern Legal Centre;
• establishing a ‘Jobs on Campus’ program to facilitate student employment, particularly for international students; and
• enhancing academic and digital literacy skills development for international students.

3. Macquarie has a seemingly low amount of donations from alumni. Is there the opportunity to do a donation drive to support improved facilities, scholarships and awards across the university?

The philanthropic support to Macquarie University has grown steadily and substantially over the last several years, from less than $1M per annum in 2012 to about $20M per annum now. Much of this support comes from alumni, but the proportion given by alumni can be increased. We have a very deliberate strategy of alumni engagement, and philanthropic development well underway, and this will continue. Alumni are also playing an increasing role in non-philanthropic ways as well through involvement for example in student engagement, research collaborations with their companies and mentorship programs here in Sydney and around the world.  Substantial philanthropic donations have been key in the construction of new facilities such as for example, the Macquarie University Incubator and the new Clinical Education Building (under construction right now).  A new Director of Development has just been appointed, and he will add significant experience, capacity and capability to the team.

4. What plans are there to establish deeper connections with universities and students from developing nations, in particular, from Latin America?

Macquarie University facilitates multiple relationships and partnerships with the developing world, including Latin America. These range from student recruitment from Latin America, Asia and Africa, to multiple mobility opportunities funded by the New Colombo Plan, core University funds, and other schemes (including philanthropy). Furthermore, we have several academic partnerships across the developing world (in its many variations) including Latin America. Within Macquarie International, as an example, we are always open to new opportunities that fit within the academic and engagement priorities of the University.

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Financial reporting

1. What is being done about the errors in the Jedox/Foresight financial system which is the only report available to Chief Investigators to help them manage their grant’s finances?

The Finance team is aware of this issue and currently working on a solution.  I have been advised the team will be reaching out to members of the research community to further develop reporting capability.  It is hoped that the first round of improved reporting capabilities will be available to Chief Investigators before the end of 2019, with further improvements released during 2020.

2. Please tell us the financial position of the Hospital, its running losses (or profits) and strategies to improve this.

During 2018/19 the Hospital was fully integrated into MQ Health, with a new Board, governance structure and senior management put in place.  Initial indications are that this integration is driving improved performance at several levels.  Hospital occupancy (a key measure of activity), has increased by over 10 per cent compared with the same period last year.  Occupancy and case-mix are key drivers of the operating performances of all private hospitals.  It is pleasing to see the occupancy increasing.  Other initiatives that have resulted from dedicated attention by the new management team include a very significant improvement in submission times to billing, as well as a number of new clinical programs which are feeders for hospital occupancy.  At end of  June 2019, MQ Health (which includes the Hospital and Clinics) is operating at a break even position (EBITDA).

3. Progress across the university by Faculties/departments/ degrees on the degree, program and unit rationalisation as foreshadowed last presentation and how this is meeting budgetary drivers come 2020

Early signs are that the extensive work over the past twelve months to embed a new curriculum architecture and to develop new courses, is being well received.  For new courses, the impact will not be known until after census dates for Sessions 1 and 2 in 2020, however Future Students and Macquarie International are reporting strong interest at this early stage.  Work on program and unit rationalisation is ongoing in each of the Faculties.  The curriculum changes introduced over the past year are expected to contribute to revenue growth in future years, starting in 2020 and increasing thereafter as new courses gain traction in the market.

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Read more in the Vice-Chancellor’s Town Hall Q&A series: 

Curriculum Transformation
Human Resources
Freedom of speech, IT and leadership